Generally, the technical field involves information systems for active listening/observing and event detection. Specifically, it involves an active listener/observer healthcare information system for event detection.
The amount of information flowing through a high-activity environment, such as a healthcare delivery environment, can be immense. As technology progresses and more information becomes available, a user cannot be expected to keep track of all of the information and maintain a high-level picture of the situation. This problem can be exacerbated where the immense information comes from disparate, loosely integrated information technology systems.
In a hospital emergency department or intensive care unit, for example, there are a number of sources of important information. These sources can include caregiver conversations, comments made by the patient, monitoring devices, lab information systems, intensive care unit information systems and other hospital information systems. It is extremely difficult for an individual caregiver to keep track of all this disparate information and maintain a high-level picture of the patient's needs. This is particularly important where the information may deal with a matter of life and death.
Early identification of problems and response to those problems can have significant impact on the user's ability to remedy the problems. For example, earlier identification of critically ill patients or emergent situations could allow for earlier intervention which could significantly impact survival. Earlier detection of a “Code Blue” callout by a caregiver (a term used by caregiver's to represent a real or suspected imminent loss of life) or critical patient vitals on a physiological monitoring device could allow for earlier response which could potentially save a patient's life.
There is a surfacing clinical problem with identifying critically ill patients at an earlier stage when intervention can have significant impact on survival. Hospitals have responded to this problem by creating rapid response teams, or RRT's, typically consisting of an MD, an RN and a respiratory therapist. These teams are available 24 hours per day to respond quickly and stabilize the patient in an emergency situation. In the past four years the number of RRT's nationwide has skyrocketed. However, no significant improvements have been made to tackle the same problem through use of healthcare information systems.
Current information systems seek a particular data stream, or data input, from the user, detect important elements of the provided data stream and give a desired response. However, these systems do not actively monitor an environment for potential problems. The monitoring aspect of current systems depends on explicit data input from the user (or other networked system) as a trigger. These systems provide a response only when potentially problematic data is detected in this manner. Today's systems do not actively monitor background activity in a high-activity environment and respond to problematic data.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to develop an information system for event detection that does not depend on direct input from a user. In the healthcare field, it would be desirable to develop an active listener/observer information system that monitors background data streams and triggers response events.